Christopher A. Faraone

The Frank Curtis Springer and Gertrude Melcher Springer Professor in the Humanities and in the College
University of Chicago
1010 E. 59th St.; Chicago, IL  60637
office: Classics 25C
phone: 773-702-8520
fax: 773-702-9861
cf12@midway.uchicago.edu

Education:

PhD in Classics Thesis: "Talismans, Voodoo Dolls and Other
Stanford University Apotropaic Images in Ancient
May 1988 Greek Myth and Ritual,"
(J. Winkler, Director)

Publications:

BOOKS (author):

The Stanzaic Architecture of Archaic Greek Elegy (forthcoming with Oxford University Press May 2008)

Ancient Greek Love Magic  (Harvard University Press, 1999); paperback 2000; modern Greek edition (Papadema, 2004); French edition, (Editions Payot et Rivages 2006).

NOTICES AND REVIEWS: Chronicle of Higher Education, (November 26, 1999) A26; The New Republic (Aug. 21, 2000) 44-48; Classical Review 50 (2000) 476-78; BMCR 00.02.19 (2000); Phoenix (2001) 165-68; The Historian (2001) 677-78; Journal of the History of Sexuality 10 (2001) 542-45; Religious Studies Review (April 2002) 112; Les études classiques 70 (2002) 395-96; Classical World 96 (2003) 219-21; American Journal of Archaeology 107 (2003) 682-84; Ancient Philosophy 23 (2003) 415-16; Greece & Rome 50.2 (2003) 272-73.

Talismans and Trojan Horses: Guardian Statues in Ancient Greek Myth and Ritual (Oxford University Press, 1992).     
     
REVIEWS: NY Rev. of Books (Dec. 17,1992) 47ff.; Classical Review 43 (1993) 312-13; "Review Feature" in Camb. Arch. Rev. 4 (1994) 270-89; Jour. of Early Chr. Stud. 2 (1994) 340-44; Recommended in Harv. Div. Bull. 23 (1994) 30; Am. Hist. Rev. (April 1994) 530-31.

BOOKS (co-editor):

(with Laura McClure, Prostitutes and Courtesans in the Ancient World (Madison 2006).

REVIEWS: BMCR (electronic) 2006.05.40

(with David Dodd) Initiation in Ancient Greek Rituals and Narratives: New Critical Perspectives (Routledge 2003).

REVIEWS:  CR 57 (2007) 152-55.  The press did not send out review copies until May 2006.

(with Thomas Carpenter) Masks of Dionysus (Cornell University Press, 1993; second printing 1996).

REVIEWS: TLS (April 1993) 8; JHS 115 (1995) 186-87; CR 45 (1995) 75-76; History of Religions (1996) 73-76; Gnomon 69 (1997) 389-398.

(with Dirk Obbink) Magika Hiera: Ancient Greek Magic and Religion (Oxford University Press, 1991; paperback 1996).      

REVIEWS: BMCR 2 (1991) 208-222; CW 86 (1993) 259-60; CR 42 (1992) 89-90.

ARTICLES IN REFEREED JOURNALS

“Gli incantesimi esametrici ed i poemi epici nella Grecia antica” QUCC 84 (2006) forthcoming.

“Amulets for Shortness of Breath and the Detection of Thieves: Notes on Some Recently Published Magical Gemstones” forthcoming in ZPE. 

(with Joseph Rife) “A Greek Curse against a Thief from the North Cemetery at Roman Kenchreai” forthcoming in ZPE. 

“Mystery Cults and Incantations: Evidence for Orphic Charms in Euripides’ Cyclops 646-48?” forthcoming in Rheinisches Museum.

“Stanzaic Structure and Responsion in the Elegiac Poetry of Tyrtaeus” Mnemosyne 59 (2006) 19-52.

“Curses and Blessings in Ancient Greek Oaths” Journal of Ancient Near Eastern Religion 5 (2006) 140-58.

“A Skull, a Gold Amulet and a Ceramic Pot: Evidence for Necromancy in the Vigna Codini?” MHNH: Revista Internacional de Investigación sobre Magia y Astrología Antiguas 5 (2005) 27-44.

“Exhortation and Meditation: Alternating Stanzas as a Structural Device in Early Greek Elegy” Classical Philology 100 (2005) 317-36.

“Catalogues, Priamels and Stanzaic Structure in Early Greek Elegy,” Transactions of the American Philological Association 135 (2005) 249-65.

 (with B. Garnand and C. Lopez-Ruiz)  “Micah's Mother (Judges 17:1-4) and a Curse from Carthage (KAI 89): Evidence for the Semitic Origin of Greek and Latin Curses against Thieves?” Journal of Near Eastern Studies 64 (2005) 161-86.

 “Orpheus’ Final Performance: Necromancy and a Singing Head on Lesbos” Studi Italiani di Filologia Classica 97 (2004) 5-27, reprinted in Italian as “L’ultima esibizione di Orfeo: negromanzia  e una testa cantante  a Lesbo” in G. Guidorizzi and M. Melotti (eds.), Orfeo e le sue metamorfosi: Mito, arte, poesia (Rome 2005) 65-85. 

 “Twisting and Turning in the Prayer of the Samothracian Initiates (Aristophanes Peace 276-79)” Museum Helveticum 61 (2004) 30-50.

“Hipponax Frag. 128W: Epic Parody or Expulsive Incantation?” Classical Antiquity 23 (2004) 209-45.

“In the Horn of an Ox: A Curious Hexametrical Curse from Hellenistic Cyrene (SGD 150)” MHNH: Revista Internacional de Investigación sobre Magia y Astrología Antiguas 4 (2004) 51-62.

 (with E. Teeter) “Egyptian Maat and Hesiodic Metis” Mnemosyne 57 (2004) 177-208.

 “New Light on Ancient Greek Exorcisms of the Wandering Womb” Zeitschrift für Papyrologie und Epigraphik 144 (2003) 189-97.

"The Undercutter, the Woodcutter, and Greek Demon Names Ending in -tomos (Hom. Hymn to Demeter 228-29)" American Journal of Philology 122 (2001) 1-10.

“Handbook or Anthology?: The Collection of Greek and Egyptian Incantations in Late Hellenistic Egypt’ Archiv für Religionsgeschichte  2 (2001) 195-214.

“Curses and Social Control in the Law Courts of Classical Athens” Dike: Revista di storia del diritto greco ed ellenistico (1999) 99-121, reprinted with minor changes in D. Cohen (ed.) Demokratie, Recht und soziale Kontrolle in klassischen Athen, Schriften des Historischen Kollegs Kolloquien 49 (Munich 2002) 77-92.

“Salvation and Female Heroics in the Parodos of Aristophanes' Lysistrata” Journal of Hellenic Studies 117 (1997) 38-59.

“Taking the Nestor's Cup Inscription Seriously: Conditional Curses and Erotic Magic in the Earliest Greek Hexameters” Classical Antiquity 15 (1996) 77-112.

“The 'Performative Future' in Three Hellenistic Incantations and Theocritus' Second Idyll” Classical Philology 90 (1995) 1-15.

“Deianeira's Mistake and the Demise of Heracles: Erotic Magic in Sophocles' Trachiniae” Helios 21 (1994) 115-35.

“Response” in “Talismans and Trojan Horses: Guardian Statues in Ancent Greek Myth and Ritual, a Review Feature” Cambridge Archaeological Review  4 (1994) 287-89.

“Three Notes on Greek Magical Texts” Zeitschrift für Papyrologie und Epigraphik 100 (1994) 81-85.

“Molten Wax, Spilt Wine and Mutilated Animals: Sympathetic Magic in Early Greek and Near Eastern Oath Ceremonies” Journal of Hellenic Studies 113 (1993) 60-80.

“The Wheel, the Whip and Other Implements of Torture: Erotic Magic in Pindar Pythian 4. 213-19” Classical Journal 88 (1993) 1-19.

“Aristophanes Amphiaraus Frag. 29 (Kassel-Austin): Oracular Response or Erotic Incantation?” Classical Quarterly 42 (1992) 320-27.

“Sex and Power: Male-Targetting Aphrodisiacs in the Greek Magical Tradition” Helios 19 (1992) 92-103.

“Binding and Burying the Forces of Evil: The Defensive Use of 'Voodoo Dolls' in Ancient Greece” Classical Antiquity 10 (1991) 165-205.

“Aphrodite's KESTOS and Apples for Atalanta: Aphrodisiacs in Early Greek Myth and Ritual” Phoenix 44 (1990) 224-43.

“An Accusation of Magic in Classical Athens (Aristophanes Wasps 946-48)” Transactions of the American Philological Association 119 (1989) 149-61.

“Clay Hardens and Wax Melts: Magical Role-Reversal in Vergil's Eighth Eclogue” Classical Philology 84 (1989) 294-300.

(with R. Kotansky), “An Inscribed Gold Phylactery in Stamford, Connecticut” Zeitschrift für Papyrologie und Epigraphik 75 (1988) 257-66.

“Hermes without the Marrow: Another Look at a Puzzling Magical Spell” Zeitschrift für Papyrologie und Epigraphik 72 (1988) 279-86.

“Hephaestus the Magician and the Near Eastern Parallels for the Gold and Silver Dogs of Alcinous (Od. 7.91-4)” Greek, Roman and Byzantine Studies 28 (1987) 257-80.

“Callimachus Epigram 29.5-6 (Gow-Page)” Zeitschrift für Papyrologie und Epigraphik 63 (1986) 53-56.

“Aeschylus' Hymnos Desmios (Eum. 306) and Attic Judicial Curse Tablets” Journal of Hellenic Studies 105 (1985) 150-54.

ARTICLES OR CHAPTERS IN COLLABORATIVE WORKS:

“Family and Household Religion in Ancient Greece” in J. Bodel and S.M. Olyan (eds.) Household and Family Religion in Antiquity: Contextual and Comparative Approaches (Oxford) – forthcoming.

“Rushing and Falling into Milk: New Perspectives on the Orphic Gold Tablets from Thurii and Pelinna” in R. G. Edmonds (ed.) Further along the Path: Recent Studies in the Orphic Gold Leaves (Cambridge) – forthcoming.

(with A. Kropp) “Inversion, Adversion and Perversion as Strategies in Some New Latin Curse Tablets from Germany” in R. Gordon and F. Marco (eds.), Magical Practice in the Latin West: Papers from the International Conference held at the University of Zaragoza, 30th Sept. - 1st Oct. 2005, Religions in the Graeco-Roman World (Leiden 2007) forthcoming.

“The Rise of the Demon Womb in Greco-Roman Antiquity” in M. Parca and A. Tzanetou (eds.) Finding Persephone: Women’s Rituals in Greece and Rome (Urbana, forthcoming 2007) 224-37.

 “Magic, Medicine and Eros in the Prologue to Theocritus’ Eleventh Idyll” in M. Fantuzzi and T. Papanghelis (eds.), Brill’s Companion to Greek and Latin Pastoral, Mnemosyne Supplement (Leiden 2006) 75-90.

 “The Priestess and the Courtesan: Female Leadership in Aristophanes' Lysistrata” in C.A. Faraone and Laura  McClure (eds.), Prostitutes and Courtesans in the Ancient World  (Madison 2006) 207-23.

 “The Masculine Arts of Ancient Greek Courtesans: Male Fantasy or Female Self-Representation?” M. Feldman and B. Gordon (eds.) The Courtesan’s Arts: Cross-Cultural Perspectives (Oxford 2006) 209-220.

 “When Necromancy Goes Underground: Skull- and Corpse-Divination in the Paris Magical Papyri (PGM IV 1928-2144)” in P. Struck and S. Johnston (eds.) Mantikê:  Studies in Ancient Divination (Leiden 2005) 255-86.

“Introduction to Prayers, Hymns, Incantations and Curses” and “Greek Prayers and Curses” in S. I. Johnston (ed.) Religions of the Ancient World: A Guide (Harvard University Press, 2004) 349-50 and 362-65.

“The Collapse of Celestial and Chthonic Realms in a Late Antique ‘Apollonian Invocation’ (PGM I 262-347),” in R. Abusch, A.Y. Reed and P. Schäfer (eds.) Heavenly Realms and Earthly Realities in Late Antique Religions (Cambridge University Press, 2004) 213-32.

“Playing the Bear and Fawn for Artemis: Female Initiation or Substitute Sacrifice?” in D. Dodd and C.A. Faraone (eds.), Initiation in Ancient Greek Rituals and Narratives: New Critical Perspectives (London 2003) 43-68.

“Thumos as Masculine Ideal and Social Pathology in Ancient Greek Magical Spells” in S. Braund and G. Most (eds.) Ancient Anger: Perspectives from Homer to Galen, Yale Classical Studies 32 (Cambridge 2003) 144-62.

“From Magic Ritual to Semiotic Game: The Transformation of Neo-Assyrian Love Spells in Classical and Hellenistic Greece” in A. Panaino and G. Pettinato (eds.) Ideologies as Intercultural Phenomena, Melammu Symposia 3 (Ravenna 2002) 61-74.

“A Drink from the Daughters of Mnemosyne: Poetry, Eschatology and Memory at the End of Pindar's Isthmian 6” in J.F. Miller, C. Damon and K.S. Myers (eds.), Vertis in usum: Studies in Honor of Edward Courtney, Beiträge zur Altertumskunde 161 (Munich/Leipzig 2002) 259-70.

“Agents and Victims: Constructions of Gender and Desire in Ancient Greek Love Magic” in M.C. Nussbaum and J. Sihvola (eds.) The Night of Reason: Erotic Experience and Sexual Ethics in Ancient Greece and Rome  (Chicago 2002) 400-426.

“The Ethnic Origins of a Roman-Era Philtrokatadesmos (PGM IV 296-434)” in P. Mirecki and M. Meyer (eds.) Magic and Ritual in the Ancient World (Leiden 2002) 319-43.

“A Collection of Curses against Kilns (Homeric Epigram 13.7-23)” in A.Y. Collins and M. M. Mitchell (eds.) Antiquity and Humanity: Essays on Ancient Religion and Philosophy Presented  to Hans Dieter Betz on his 70th Birthday (Tubingen 2001) 435-50.

“Hymn to Selene-Hecate-Artemis from a Greek Magical Handbook (PGM IV 2714-83)” in M. Kiley (ed.) Prayer from Alexander to Constantine (London 1997) 195-99.

 “The Mystodokos and the Dark-Eyed Maidens: Multicultural Influences on a Late-Hellenistic Incantation” in M. Meyer and P. Mirecki (eds.) Ancient Magic and Ritual Power, Religions of the Graeco-Roman World 129 (Leiden 1995) 297-333.

“Introduction” to T.H. Carpenter and C.A. Faraone (eds.) Masks of Dionysus (Ithaca, New York 1993) 1-10.

BOOKS AND ARTICLES IN PROGRESS:

Hymns, Oracles and Incantations: Short Hexametrical Genres in Ancient Greece (several chapters in draft)

"Non-Strophic Dactylic Paeans to Asclepius: The Paean of Macedonicus and Hellenistic Versions of the Erythraean Paean" (31 pp. in typescript).  This is part of a larger book-length project that I hope to write on paeans as apotropaic rituals.

“Stanzaic Structure in the Etiological Poetry of Phanocles and Callimachus”

INTERVIEWS OR ARTICLES IN POPULAR MEDIA:

Fireside Chat at Quadrangle Club (Feb. 2007): “Aspasia: Pericles’ Mistress and Socrates’ Teacher”

“What’s New in Ancient Roman Magic: Recent Archaeological Discoveries” Amphora: Newletter of the American Philological Association (forthcoming 2007)

“New Discoveries in Ancient Magic” Ohio University, May 2006.

Brief interview on “Voyager” a series on RAI 2 (one of the Italian Public Televison stations) as part of a program on ancient witches  (aired March 2005).

Interview in Archio, an Italian journal for archaeology (2005).

“When Spells Worked Magic “ Archaeology  (March-April 2003) 48-53.

“On Ancient Greek Witchcraft” Todd Mundt Show, Michigan Public Radio, Ann Arbor, March 13, 2003.

“Entrevista a Christopher A. Faraone con ocasión de su visita a Madrid, Junio 2002” MHNH: Revista Internacional de Investigación sobre Magia y Astrología Antiguas (2003) 291-304.

Discussant on the topic of “Dream Interpretation” on the “Odyssey” show, a Chicago-based NPR station, Nov. 2002.

REVIEWS:

Review of L. Watson,  Arae: Curse Poetry of Classical Antiquity (Liverpool 1992) in Classical Philology  88 (1993) 336-40.

Review of J. Fontenrose, Didyma: Apollo's Oracle, Cult and Companions (Berkeley 1988) in Classical World 83 (1990) 530-31.

Review of H.D. Betz (ed.) The Greek Magical Papyri in Translation,Vol. 1 (Chicago 1986) in Classical World 80 (1987) 325-26.

Public Lectures and Other Presentations:

INVITED PUBLIC LECTURES:

“Minding the Gap between Ancient Greek Age-Grade Rites of Passage and Mystery Initiations” at the “Rites of Passage of the Life Cycle in Antiquity” conference at the Getty Museum, April 2007.

“The Community of Women in Ancient Greece: Interpersonal Cursing and Dispute Resolution in the Sanctuaries of Demeter Thesmophoros” Columbia University, November 2006, the Harry J. Carroll Memorial Lecture at Pomona College, February 2007, and as keynote address for the conference “Per Purum Tonans: Aspects of the Natural and the Supernatural in Antiquity” at the University of Virginia, March 2007.

“Magic and Medicine in the Roman Imperial Period: Two Case Studies” Institute for Advanced Studies, Hebrew University, July 2006 and University of Southern California, February 2007.

“A New Curse from Roman Kenchreai”, Classics Undergraduate Convivium, University of Chicago, November 2006.

 “Magical and Medical Responses to the Wandering Womb in the Roman Imperial Period and After” at a conference, "Prácticas mágicas en el imperio romano latinoparlante  desde fines de la República a la antigüedad tardía," University of Zaragoza, September 2005 and the Dennis A. George Lecture in Hellenic Culture at Tulane University,  April 2006.

“Mystery Cults and Incantations: Evidence for Orphic Charms in Euripides’ Cyclops?” at the Universidad Complutense, Madrid, in May 2005 and at a conference “Ritual Texts for the Afterlife” at Ohio State University, April 2006 and June 2006 at Cambridge University.

“Stanzaic Structure in the Etiological Poetry of Phanocles and Callimachus” Rhetoric and Poetics Workshop, University of Chicago, January 2006.

 “Family and Household Religion in Ancient Greece” one of five keynote addresses at a conference “Household and Family Religion in Mediterranean and West Asian Societies” at Brown University, February 2005.

“Catalogues, Priamels and Stanzaic Structure in Early Greek Elegy” University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and Fordham University, February 2005.

“A Skull, a Gold Amulet and a Ceramic Pot: Evidence for Necromancy in the Vigna Codini?” at a conference “Professional Sorcerers and their Wares in the Imperial Rome,” American Academy at Rome, November 2004.

“The Rise of the Demon Womb in the Greco-Roman World,” Centro Interdipartimentale di Studi Antropologici sulla Cultura Antica, University of Siena, November 2004, at “The Spirit Within: Inspiration, Possession and Disease in the Ancient Mediterranean Basin” a conference at the University of Chicago, March 2005.

“Boubrôstis, Meat Eating and the Crossroads: Erysichthon as Famine Demon in Callimachus' Hymn to Demeter,” Centro Interdipartimentale di Studi Antropologici sulla Cultura Antica, University of Siena, November 2004.

“Disappearing (Speech) Acts: Wing- and Grapecluster-Spells in Ancient Greek Magical Papyri and Gemstones” different versions at Macalester College, MN, September 2004, Pontifical Biblical Institute in Rome, October 2004, University of Salerno, November 2004, Early Christian Literature Workshop, University of Chicago, January 2005; at “Edición de textos mágicos de la Antigüedad y la Edad Media,” a conference in Madrid and Toledo, June 2005; at Notre Dame University, November 2006, at Oxford University June 2006 and at University of California at Los Angeles, February 2007.

Invited to give a paper at a conference at the Ruhr-Universität Bochum in October 2004 on “Fatale Sprachen: Eid und Fluch in der europäischen Rechtsgeschichte” (declined because of a conflicting previous engagement)

“The Idea of the Wandering Womb in Classical Antiquity” Northern Illinois University, November 2003.

“Orpheus’ Final Destination: Poetry, Necromancy and A Singing Head on Lesbos” at a conference, “Il viaggio di Orfeo: mito, arte e letteratura” University of Turin, April 2003.

“Gli incantesimi esametrici ed i poemi epici nella Grecia antica” Scuola Normale di Pisa and the University of Verona, April 2003.

 “The Wandering Womb in Greco-Roman Medicine and Magic” short version delivered at “Women’s Rituals in Context” conference at the University of Illinois, Urbana; full version as the Keynote Address of the Annual Meeting of the Classical Association of Minnesota and before the Humanities Faculty at the University of Western Ontario, all in October 2002.

 (co-authored with B. Garnand and C. Lopez Ruiz) “Two Curses Involving Theft (Judges 17: 1-4 and KAI3, 89): Evidence for the Semitic Origin of Greek Curses against Thieves?” Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Científicas (CSIC), Madrid, June 2002 and University of Minnesota, September 2004.

“Greek, Aramaic and Latin Exorcisms against the Wandering Womb,” Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Científicas (CSIC), Madrid, June 2002 .

“Rushing and Falling into Milk: New Perspectives on the Orphic Gold Tablets” at conference "The Cults of Magna Graeca" Villa Vergiliana, Naples, June 2002.

“The Masculine Arts of Ancient Greek Courtesans: Male Fantasy or Female Self-Representation?’ at an interdisciplinary conference on “The Arts or the Courtesan” at the Newberry Library and the University of Chicago, April 2002.

“Secret Talismans and Hidden Pharmaka: Protective Statues in Ancient Greece” at an interdisciplinary conference on “Secrets, Histories and Publics” at Sweet Briar College, March 2002.

“From Wandering to Demonic Wombs: Medical and Magical Gynecology in the Roman Empire,” the Mario and Antoinette Romano Lecture, Binghamton University, March 2002.

“Talking Heads: Divination by Skulls and Corpses in the Ancient Mediterranean World,” Newman University, February 2002.

Invited to give a paper “If Eros is a Disease, then Erotic Magic is a Curse” at a conference "Eros in Greek and Roman Literature", University of Florence, Italy, November 2001 (cancelled in the wake of September 11th attacks).

“Disappearing (Speech) Acts: Wing- and Grape-Cluster-Spells in the Greco-Roman Magical Spells” Keynote Lecture at “Hecate at the Crossroads” conference, University of New England, Armidale, Australia , September 2001 (cancelled in the wake of September 11th attacks, along with public lectures on “Eros and Erotic Magic in Ancient Greece” at the Universities of Sydney and Melbourne).

 “Talking Heads and Other Necromantic Rites in the Greek Magical Papyri” Conference on “Greek and Roman Divination,” University of Pennsylvania, April 2001.

“More Curses than Blessings: A Curious Imbalance in Ancient Greek Oath Formulas” Conference:  “Benedictio/Maledictio: What Have Curses to do with Blessings?” The American Academy of Rome, April 2001.

“The Collapse of Celestial and Chthonian Realms in a Late Antique Apollonian Invocation (PGM I 262-347),” at conference on “In Heaven as it is on Earth: Imagined Realms and Earthly Realities in Late Antique Religions,” Princeton, January 2001.

“From Magic Ritual to Semiotic Game: The Transformation of Neo-Assyrian Love Spells in Classical and Hellenistic Greece” at the at the Third Annual Symposium of the Intellectual Heritage of Assyria and Babylonia in East and West, Chicago in November 2000 and as the Poultney Lecture at Johns Hopkins University in April 2001.

“The Role of the Gods in Homeric Epic," Greek, Thought and Literature Lecture, University of Chicago, October 2000.

 “The Maleness of Courtesans," University of Illinois at Urbana, September 2000, and the annual meeting of the Society for Biblical Literature, special session on "Magic and Gender", Nashville, November 2000.

“‘Good Girls’ and ‘Bad Girls’: Female Stereotypes in Aristophanes' Lysistrata,” Willamette University, March 2000, at the “Teaching Aristophanes' Feminist Plays” conference at Ohio University, October 2000 and St. Olaf’s College, October 2002.

“Curse Tablets and Binding Curses,” UCLA, May 2000.

“Prayers to the Sun, the Moon and the Morning Star: Heavenly Love Magic in the Ancient Greek World,” University of Washington, March 2000.

“Sophists and Sorcerers in the Law Courts of Democratic Athens,” Law School, University of Milan, April 1999, University of Chicago, October 1999 and Lewis and Clark University, March 2000.

“Greek, Jewish and Egyptian Features of a Roman-Era Philtrokatadesmos” The Warburg Institute, University of London, June 1999.

“Love Magic in Ancient Greece” in the series “Anthropologia e il mondo antico,” University of Milan, April 1999.

“The Ritual Use of Images in Ancient Greece: From Mimesis to Magic,” Classical Art Society, The Art Institute of Chicago, September 1998.

“Ethnic Origins of a Roman-Era Philtrokatadesmos (PGM IV 296-434)” Claremont University, August 1998.

“Gods and Heroes in Greek Vase Painting" Schoolteachers Program, The Art Institute of Chicago, July 1998.

“Curses and Social Control in the Law Courts of Ancient Athens,” Kolloquium des Historischen Kollegs, Munich, June 1998.

“Sophists and Sorcerers in the Law Courts of Democratic Athens,” Haskell Lecture, Oberlin College, April 1998.

“Ritual Comic Abuse and Expulsive Incantation: Hipponax Fragment 128W” Princeton University, January 1998 and University of Basel, June 1998.

“Greek and Egyptian Traditions in the Incantations from Hellenistic Egypt” at a symposium entitled “Priests, Magicians and Incantations in Hellenistic Egypt,” Third Meeting of the Chicago-Stanford Seminar of Hellenistic Egypt, University of Chicago, November 1997.

“Women, Sacrifice and Greek Tragedy,” Works of the Mind Lecture, University of Chicago, October 1997.

“The Social Construction of Gender in Ancient Greek Love Magic” at the first S. Eitrem Symposium at the Norwegian Institute for Classical Studies in Athens and at a conference entitled “Gender and Religion” at the Ohio State University, Columbus, Ohio, both in May 1997 and at Indiana University in February 1998.

“Colorizing the Classics” at a symposium entitled “The Future of the Past,” SUNY at Buffalo, April 1997.

“The Love Magic of Ancient Greek Wives and Courtesans” at a symposium entitled “Magic in the Ancient Greek World,” University of Western Ontario, September 1996.

“Smiting the Enemy: Functional and Ideological Aspects of Some Two-Figure Allegories in Ancient Greek Art” at a symposium entitled “The Social Function of Art in the Ancient Near East,” Arthur M. Sackler Gallery, Washington, D.C., May 1996.

“Courtesans and Erotic Magic: The Reversal of Traditional Gender Roles in Ancient Greece,” Wesleyan University, February 1996.

“May She Leap Out of Her House and Come To Me: Erotic Magic and Courtship Ritual In Ancient Greece,” Chicago Classical Club, May 1995.

“Rhetoric and Binding Magic in the Law Courts of Democratic Athens,” Northern Illinois University, April 1995.

Invited Roundtable Discussant at the Mellon-Sponsored “Magic Symposium,” Institute for Advanced Study, Princeton University, March 1995.

“Fire and Water: A Theme of Salvation in Aristophanes' Lysistrata,” Northwestern University, February 1993, Amherst College, May 1993, and University of Cincinnati, April 1994.

“Magical Ritual in Classical Antiquity,” Dr. Rudolf G. Schade Endowed Lecture, Elmhurst College, November 1993.

“The Mystodokos and the Dark-Eyed Maidens: Multicultural Influences on a Greek Magical Charm” at conference “Magic in the Ancient World,” University of Kansas, August 1992.

“Public and Private Magic in Greco-Roman Paganism,” The Catholic University of America, February 1992.

(with J. Gager) “Curse Tablets and Magic Spells in Antiquity,” Program in the Ancient World Colloquium, Princeton University, April 1991.

“Bound by Love: Erotic Magic in Classical Antiquity,” The Mary J. Pearl Lecture in Classics, Sweetbriar College, February 1991.

“Deianeira's Mistake: Erotic Magic in Sophocles' Trachiniae” at a conference entitled “Magic and Literature,” Ohio State University, October 1990.

“'Voodoo Dolls' in Ancient Greece,” the James Rubright Memorial Lecture to the Columbus Ohio Chapter of the American Institute of Archaeology, October 1990. 

“Sympathetic Magic in Early Greek Oath Ceremonies,” University of Texas at Austin and Stanford University, February 1990.

“Aphrodite's Kestos and Apples for Atalanta: Aphrodisiacs in Early Greek Myth,” University of Chicago, January 1989.

SHORTER PRESENTATIONS AT PROFESSIONAL MEETINGS:

“Disappearing (Speech) Acts in the Greek Magical Papyri and Gemstones” at the Association of Ancient Historians Meeting, Ann Arbor, May 2004.

“Hexametrical Incantations and Archaic Greek Epos” in panel “Early Greek Hexameter: Magic, Ritual and Epos” APA Meetings, New Orleans, January 2003.

Respondent to panel on “New Theoretical Approaches to Ancient Greek Religion” APA Meetings, Philadelphia, January 2002.

“The Maleness of Courtesans,” Gender and Magic Panel, Annual Meeting of the Society of Biblical Literature, Nashville, November 2000.

“Performance without Mortal Audience: Prayer, Hymn and Incantation” APA Meetings, Chicago, December 1997.

“Two Disarming Scenes in the Iliad” CAMWS Meetings, April 1996.

“Hipponax Frag. 129: Parody of Epic or Pharmakos Chant?” APA Meetings, San Diego, December 1995.

“Theocritus' Second Idyll and the Hellenistic Tradition of Hexametrical Incantations” APA Meetings, Atlanta, December 1994.

“Taking The Nestor's Cup Inscription Seriously: Erotic Magic and Conditional Curses in the Earliest Inscribed Hexameters” APA Meetings, New Orleans, December 1992.

“Melting Wax and Spilt Wine: Sympathetic Magic in Near Eastern and Early Greek Oath Ceremonies” APA Meetings, San Francisco, December 1990.

“The Wheel, the Whip, and Other Implements of Torture in Pindar's Fourth Pythian” APA Meetings, Boston, December 1989.

“The Salvation of Ishmael in the Desert (Gen. 21: 14-19): Egyptian Myth in the Negev?” Annual Meeting of the Society of Biblical Literature, Anaheim,  November 1989.

(read by S. Stephens) “Encolpius' Impotence and the Double Dose of Satyrion” Second International Conference on the Ancient Novel, Dartmouth College, July 1989 (unable to attend because of the impending birth of my daughter).

“Memory, Mystery and the End of Pindar's Sixth Isthmian” CAMWS Meetings, Lexington, April 1989.

“Sex and Power: Gender-Specific Aphrodisiacs in the Greek Magical Tradition” APA Meetings, Baltimore, January 1989.

“Voodoo Dolls in Ancient Greece: Public and Private Rituals” APA Meetings, New York City, December 1987.

Organizer of Panels, Colloquia and Conferences:

(with Mark Munn) “Greek History, Religion and Archaeology: Honoring the Work of Michael Jameson”, APA Panel, January 2004, San Francisco.

"Religion-Philosophy-Poetry: Rethinking Early Greek Hexametrical Texts”, November 2002, University of Chicago.

(with Laura McClure) “Prostitution in the Ancient World”, April 2002, University of Wisconsin at Madison.

(withe Betsy Gebhard and Hans Deiter Betz) "A Symposium on Hero Cults in the Greek East during the Roman Empire" February 2002, University of Chicago

(with Bob Wallace and Michael Gagarin) "International Symposium on Ancient Greek Law" University of Chicago and Northewestern University, September 2001.

(with Sara Forsdyke ), “Ritual and Politics in Athenian Scapegoat Rituals”, May 2001, University of Chicago.

(with David Dodd) "Beyond Initiation: Transitions and Power in Ancient Narratives and Rituals" April 2000, University of Chicago.

(with Laura Slatkin and Bob Wallace) "Teaching the Theban Plays of Sophocles" April 1999, Chicago.

(with Susan Stephens) The Chicago-Stanford Seminar on Hellenistic Egypt, a series of five one-day colloquia for Classicists and Egyptologists focusing on the culture(s) of Hellenistic Egypt, 1997-1998. I was primary organizer of the first two Chicago-based programs -- "Myth in the Hymns of Hellenistic Egypt" (February 1997) and "Priests, Magicians and Incantations in Hellenistic Egypt" (November 1997) -- and co-organiser (with J. Johnson and R. Ritner) of the third: "Narrative Strategies in Greek and Egyptian Prose of the Hellenistic Period" (April 1998).

(with James Redfield) "Lectures on Anthropology, Theory and the Study of Ancient Religions", a series of lectures by M. Herzfeld, B. Lincoln, J.Z. Smith, H.S. Versnel and others at the University of Chicago Divinity School, 1996-97.

(with Kirk Ormand, Laura Slatkin, and Bob Wallace) Three-Day Conference: "Teaching the Oresteia" April 1996, Chicago.

(with Dirk Obbink) "The Performance and Ritual Context of Early Greek Poetry" APA Panel, December 1992, New Orleans.

(with Susan Ackerman) "Comparative Studies in Near Eastern and Ancient Greek Religion," APA Panel, December 1990, San Francisco.

(with Thomas Carpenter) "Masks of Dionysus," an interdisciplinary conference, October, 1989 at Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University, Blacksburg VA.

(with Leslie A. Jones) "Attitudes to Gender in Magic, Medicine and Ritual" APA Panel, January 1989, Baltimore.

(with Sarah Iles Johnston) "Magic and Ritual: The Techniques of the Magician," APA Panel, December 1987, New York City.

Teaching Positions:

The Frank Curtis Springer and Gertrude Melcher Springer Professor in Humanities and Classics
University of Chicago
(July 2005 – present)

Professor of Classical Languages and Literatures
University of Chicago
(July 1998 – June 2005)

Associate Professor of Classical Languages and Literatures
University of Chicago
(July 1993-June 1998)

Assistant Professor of Classical Languages and Literatures
University of Chicago
(Sept. 1991-June 1993)

Assistant Professor of Classics and Humanities
Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University
(Aug. 1988-Aug. 1991)

Co-Instructor (with T. Carpenter and N. Smith) of a 1990 and 1995 NEH Summer Institute for School Teachers on Greek Religion

Graduate Seminars:

"Eros in Archaic and Classical Greece" (with James Redfield)
"Ancient Greek Hymns" (thrice)
"Greek and North Semitic Religious Inscriptions" (with D. Pardee, Oriental Institute)
"Text, Image and the Representation of Ritual" (with Gloria Pinney and Laura Slatkin)
"Ancient Hebrew and Greek Wisdom Literature" (with John Collins and Laura Slatkin)
"Ancient Greek Magic"
"The Homeric Hymns" (with James Redfield and Bruce Lincoln)
"Hesiod Theogony" (with Bruce Lincoln)
"The Greek Magical Papyri" (with Hans Dieter Betz)
"Oracles and Divination in the Ancient World" (with Bruce Lincoln)
"Greek Religion in its Historical Context" (with Jonathan Hall)
"Orphism" (with David Martinez)

Dissertation Advisor:

Catherine Mardikes  (Bibliographer for Classics and Ancient Near East,
Regenstein Graduate Library, University of Chicago) – mardikes@uchicago.edu
“Curses and Conspiratorial Oaths in the Oresteia of Aeschylus” (Classics 1995)

Peter Struck (Associate Professor, University of Pennsylvannia) -- struck@sas.upenn.edu
 “Reading Symbols: Traces of the Gods in the Greek Speaking World ”
    (Comparative  Literature  1997) [Third Reader]

David Dodd  (Newark Academy) -- ddodd63@yahoo.com
 “Heroes on the Edge: Youth, Status and Marginality in Fifth-Century Poetic Narrative”
    (Classics 1999)

Radcliffe Edmonds  (Associate Professor, Bryn Mawr College) -- redmonds@brynmawr.edu
 “A path neither simple or single ...: The Use of Katabasis-Myths in Plato,
   Aristophanes and the 'Orphic' Gold Tablets”  (Classics 1999)

Daniel Richter  (Assistant Professor, University of Southern California) -- drichter@usc.edu
 “Ethnography, Archaism, and Identity in the Early Roman Empire.” (Classics 2000)

Andrew Foster  (Assistant Professor, Fordham University) -- foster@fordham.edu
 “Studies in Theocritean Narrative Technique” (Classics 2001)

Ian Moyer (Assistant Professor, University of Michigan) -- ianmoyer@umich.edu
 “At the Limits of Hellenism: Egyptian Priests and the Greek World”
    (Committee on the Ancient Mediterranean World 2004)

Carolina Lopez-Ruiz (Assistant Professor, Ohio State University) -- lopez-ruiz.1@osu.edu
“The Sons of Earth and Starry Heaven: Greek Theogonic Traditions
and their Near Eastern Backgrounds”
      (Committee on the Ancient Mediterranean World 2005) [Second Reader]

Brien Garnand (Instructor, Stanford University) -- bgarnand@stanford.edu
“Classical Views of Ancient Phoenician Child Sacrifice”
(Committee on the Ancient Mediterranean World 2006)

College and University Service:

Director, Workshop on the Ancient Mediterranean World (1993-97 and 2001-4)
Lecturer, Humanities Open House (annually 1994-present)
Lecturer, Alumni Programs and Tours (annually 1995-present)
Lecturer,  Graham School of Continuing Education (annually 1997-2000)
Whiting Fellowship Committee (1994)
Board of Directors, Chicago Humanities Institute (Sept. 1994-June 1996)
Resident Master, Burton-Judson Courts (Sept 1997- June 2000)
Interim Chair, Committee on the Ancient Mediterranean World (1997-98)
Chair, Ad Hoc College Group that created Athens Program for the College (1997-98)
Chair, Ad Hoc College Committee that created a Major in Ancient Studies (1997-98)
Ryerson Fellowship Committee (1997-1999)
Spearheaded (with Casey Turner) the effort to reorganize and expand the teaching of ancient languages in Summer School (1998-99)
Chair, Classics Department (July 1998 - July 2001)
Chair, Adhoc University Committee on International Programs (2000-2001)
Council on Advanced Studies (2001-2003)
Director, Greek Thought and Literature Core Sequence for the College (Fall 2001 -present)
Chair, Adhoc University Committee on to Advise the Provost and President on Candidates for the Dean of Humanities Division (2003-2004)
Senior Co-Chair of the University of Chicago Society of Fellows (2005-present)
Humanities Division Policy Committee (2005-present)
Dean of Humanities Planning and Program Committee (2005-present)

Departmental Service:

Associate Editor of Classical Philology  (Sept. 1991- July 1998)
Book Review Editor of Classical Philology  (Sept. 1993-July 1998)
Walsh Lecture Committee (1993-95, 2001-03, and 2005-2006)
Graduate Admissions Committee (1993, 1999 and 2003-04)
Chair of Ad Hoc Committee for redesign of first-year Greek program (1993-94)
Graduate Advisor in the Classics Department (1994-95)
Chair, Ad Hoc Departmental Committee that created a new variant of the Classics major: “Greek and Roman Cultures” (1997-98)
Reorganized Greek and Latin Summer Institute (1997-1998)
Co-Director of Greek and Latin Summer Institute (Summer 1998 and 1999)
Director of Greek and Latin Summer Institute (Summer 2000)
Chairman of Graduate Admissions Committee (2004)
Graduate Advisor for PAMW Program (2005-2006)
Chair of Walsh Lecture Committee (1993-95, 2001-03, and 2005-2006)
Latin Search Committee (2005-2006)

Awards and Grants:

Senior Fellow, Franke Institute for the Humanities, University of Chicago (2002-2003).
Guggenheim Fellowship (April -Dec. 1997)
NEH Fellowship for University Professors (1995-96)
Junior Fellow, Center for Hellenic Studies (1991-92)
Director, NEH Grant for "Masks of Dionysus" Conference (August 1990-February 1991)
ACLS Grant for Recent Recipients of the PhD (January-July 1990)
NEH Summer Stipend (July-August 1989)

Faculty Host for Fulbright and Other Visiting Scholars:

Dr. Andrzej Wypustek (University of Wroclaw)  2004-2005
“Love Magic in the Greco-Roman World” (Fulbright)

            Raquel Martín Hernández (Complutenses University, Madrid) 2002-2003
“Orphism and Magic” (Fulbright)

Membership in Professional Organizations:

American Philological Association (APA)
Classical Association for the Midwest and the South (CAMWS)
Society for Biblical Literature (SBL)
Women's Classical Caucus (WCC)

Service in Professional Organizations:

APA Professional Matters Committee (Jan. 2001-present)
APA Nominating Committee (Sept. 1995-1998)

Personal:

Born April 22, 1955.
Married to Susan M. Hitchens (1982)
Children: Alexander (b. 1984) and Amanda (b. 1989)

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